Brandel Zachernuk
About me
Hello! I am a creative technologist with over 25 years of experience in building novel interaction on the web. I'm an ardent participant in the Near Future Laboratory and Future of Text communities. I post sketches of interactive work periodically on Twitter, CodePen, and, occasionally, ShaderToy. You can find about about my professional work at LinkedIn.
I work at Apple in the Vision Products group on Spatial Web Technologies. Internally, I prototype and advocate for new capabilities on the web. Externally, I take those proposals and advocate in the public for the standardization of those features while upholding the principles of safety, privacy and security. We are making great progress! In 2026, we successfully released the HTML Model element on macOS and iOS, as well as producing a specification proposal for Spatial CSS. These are essential steps in my goal of a web that has the ability to exist more naturally in the space around us, without sacrificing security and privacy by divulging more information about users than necessary. The Model element is the first essential step for a spatial web. This video shows what it is and how to use it. I was responsible for designing the user API, creating all the 3D content, and developing the story for presentation. The immersive website environment allows in-line models to be presented as a full space at the true scale present in the asset. I was responsible for creating the 3D content. A panel I appeared on to discuss the state of the web in 2026. Our first introduction for the full Model element and its API, as well as developments in spatial media. I produced the 2D and 3D assets for the presentation and supervised the story for presentation. I also produced a Model element explainer demonstration to illustrate the potential and behavior of a model element, to provide individuals and organizations with a usable reference point for understanding the needs and opportunities for such a feature.
My session from 2024 on the capabilities and behavior of Safari in visionOS. I produced the script and the visual assets for the presentation.
On a personal level, my work is informed by taking a long view of technological development (back to the origins of writing and beyond), a firm belief in embodied cognition/extended mind, and the nearly-limitless for human neuroplasticity and adaptiveness under the circumstances that mixing these ingredients together can create. For more clarity on what that means, take a look at my 2022 Portfolio page, which covers work informed by my interest in embodied cognition, writing as a technology - and just happens to be what I used to get my current role! ;) Alternatively, you can learn more about these foundational concepts from the links below. Bains covers a range of sensory prosthesis, and the interviews that she conducts with users of the technologies show how deeply integrated they can be to our perception. Clark is the co-author of the paper originally proposing Extended Mind. There are many other videos of his thinking, as well as several excellent books, this is probably the best place to start. Kirsh has done extensive research on using the body to think, starting with his 1994 paper on expert players of tetris who will turn the blocks just to see where they'll fit. He coined the distinction between 'epistemic' and 'pragmatic' activities, which I like a lot.
Barbara Tversky - Mind in Motion: How action shapes thought Tversky has researched the use of gesture within the internal process of thinking, and helps show that much of the gesturing we'd think we are doing for others is actually useful to us and our thinking. This talk is a brief overview of her book of the same title, which is excellent.
Work
2026
2025
2024
Motivaion
Resources
Articles
Wikipedia articles on
Sunny Bains - Mixed Feelings
Video
Andy Clark - Extended You
David Kirsh - Thinking with the Body and other things